


Après Un Rêve

by hallsofmandos



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs
Genre: Alternate Universe - Middle Earth Setting, Angst, M/M, Mixed-Up Middle Earth Geography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21561601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hallsofmandos/pseuds/hallsofmandos
Summary: "I wandered long, methought, aloneto the deep shadow where the dead dwell,but ever a voice that I knew well,like bells, like viols, like harps, like birds,like music moving without words,called me, called me through the night,enchanted drew me back to the light!"Nakahara Chuuya, the elven lord commander of the kingsguard of kingdom of Mirkwood, singing in the woods. With a sudden intervention from Dazai Osamu, a mysterious being that was caught inbetween his tunes, they became best friends afterwards. Or perhaps it is more than that?Time to time, one story comes with another. The truth finally unveils, and the clock is ticking faster. What exactly is Dazai? Why does he act so familiarly to Chuuya? And perhaps the biggest question we need the answer is: What makes them always connected, even for thousands of years?With beautiful arts by Sebasnyanchi aka Sebby (posted on my Instagram @allololonsy)!I do not own Bungou Stray Dogs nor The Lord of The Rings series.
Relationships: Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs)
Kudos: 6
Collections: Soukoku Big Bang 2019





	Après Un Rêve

**Author's Note:**

> Uncovering the truth, unsolving the case, all of these mixed with sentiment.   
> For the arts, creds to Sebasnyanchi, or @mary_mackerel on Instagram! I will post the arts on my Instagram @allololonsy :)  
> Thank you as well to the mods for the arrangement of SKKBB19.

Set in: Middle Earth, first arc Mirkwood, time setting: TA 3015-3018 ish

That day was Mereth en Giliath, Feast of stars. Music and lores filled the halls of Thranduil. The feast extended over midnight, for the food and wine from the cellar is unlimited. Chattering and laughter was heard in every corner. However, one particular elf didn’t seem to go with the flow of how this feast’s going. Nakahara Chuuya. He was a silvan elf, and the lord commander of all soldiers in Mirkwood aka Thranduil’s most trusted agent (He trusted his son, Legolas too, but this is as in out of the family).

As Chuuya walked further and further from the main gate deep into the woods, he started to sing. He sang various poetries, from miserable to cheerful.

_"A king there was in days of old_

_ere Men yet walked upon the mould_

_There beryl, pearl, and opal pale_

_and metal wrought like fishes' mail_

_all these he had and loved them less_

_than a maiden once in Elfinesse_

_for fairer than are born to Men_

_a daughter had he, Lúthien”_

Lay of Leithian. It’s a tragic-romantic poem that tells a story about the love life of an elven princess with a mortal man. Tragic it was, for marriage between an elf with a mortal is considered taboo.

Chuuya stopped for a moment, hearing another voice not too far from him singing the same poem:

_“Tinúviel! Tinúviel!_

_His voice such love and longing filled_

_one moment stood she, fear was stilled;_

_one moment only; like a flame_

_he leaped towards her as she stayed_

_and caught and kissed that elfin maid.”_

The one singing was a creature with an appearance of a fair looking man. His eyes were like gleaming chocolate orbs, making Chuuya a little bit lost in those eyes. The man smiled and titlted his head, taking Chuuya back to reality. Chuuya felt embarrassed but didn’t show it on his face, continuing the poem:

_“He lay upon the leafy mould_

_his face upon the earth’s bosom cold”_

And Dazai joined in:

_“aswoon in overwhelming bliss_

_enchanted of an elvish kiss”_

And as the poem continues, they started to dance together in joy along the trees:

_“there flitting just before his feet_

_she gently chid with laughter sweet;_

_Come! dance now, Beren, dance with me!_

_For fain thy dancing I would see.”_

They danced and sang together for God knows how long. But both of them enjoyed those times together. After the song ended, the space between those two became more and more awkward.

“Well,”Chuuya coughed,”Wasn’t that amazing? Nakahara Chuuya.” he extended his hand.

“Dazai Osamu.” Dazai chuckled, accepting his handshake.

“So Dazai, where are you from? You’re obviously not from Mirkwood because I remember every faces of my men.”

Dazai, however, is not an elf. Not a human either. But he took an appearance of a mortal man, so he could travel easily. He’s akin to Gandalf and Saruman, a Maia. What’s a Maia? Well, a Maia is some kind of an angelic spirit, immortal, and of course, very very powerful. Though Dazai was not one of the five wizards that ascended officially in Middle Earth, he only liked to wander around, exploring the lands of the mortals. Dazai was a Maia serving Mandos, the keeper of the dead and Orome, the hunter of fell beasts.

”Your men? Ah, a kingsguard, aren’t you? Pardon me, my lord. For I am only a wandering hunter from a distant land in the south.”

“South? You’re not one of those evil haradrim, are you?”

*Haradrim is a tribe in the southest part of Middle Earth. From _harad_ (south) and _rim_ (number; host; tribe). They kinda represents the African here.

“What? No, of course not. Fear not, my lord, I have a permit.” Dazai gave Chuuya a small piece of paper.

After reading it, Chuuya became annoyed and tossed the paper that says: “I can do what I want”

“OH FOR ERU’S SAKE! BE FUCKING SERIOUS THIS TIME!” Chuuya yelled as Dazai laying on the ground laughing his ass off.

Right before the feast ended, Dazai might kinda flirt with Chuuya so he was very embarrased and walked back angrily to the gates and hoped they would never meet again. On the contrary to Dazai, he secretly wished that they might meet again some time later. Guess whose wish came true? Yep, you know it. It’s Dazai’s. They met again the next day in the morning.

* * *

Thranduil summons Chuuya to his throneroom, in which Dazai was also there. Before Chuuya enters, he thought that the topic of the summoning was about something something giant spiders or about hair treatment again, and he sighed. But as soon as he saw the person with dark brown hair and wearing blue robe, he really wanted to run away because last night’s incident was too unbearable to be remembered. It was far worse than giant spiders!

“No, fuck no. I ain’t coming.” Chuuya said in his mind. But he had to, didn’t he?

Chuuya braced himself before entering, and took a step into the throneroom. Apparently Thranduil summonned him because there happened to be a group mission. He intended to make Chuuya and Dazai investigate a certain evil area across the misty mountains. Chuuya immediately declined because why would the king made him go along with a stranger? For that matter, Thranduil explained that Dazai is actually a famous hunter in the north, and also a friend of Mithrandir or Gandalf the Grey.

Chuuya scratched the back of his head. How did he not know this? If there are news about a wandering hunter in the north slaying notably beasts and dragons, he would’ve known it already. Forests have ears, and some elves have tongues that are too cheerful. With a heavy heart, Chuuya finally accepted the mission. Thranduil then dismissed them. But just as before Chuuya left the throneroom, Thranduil told him to keep an eye on Dazai.

Chuuya’s heart skipped a beat, he nodded without saying another word, and left. Outside the gates, Dazai was waiting for Chuuya. Chuuya notified him that they will depart in three days without paying any glance.

“Okay.” Dazai agreed.

Chuuya left Dazai in front of the gates, and went deep into the forests. He needed to hunt some spiders in hope to forget Dazai’s alluring words. Of course, Dazai followed him. Being left alone with the stone-cold faced guards is embarassing.

Chuuya knew that Dazai would follow him, so he hopped from tree to tree in random. No matter how far and how confusing the way he hopped, Dazai always managed to keep up, even beyond startling or scaring Chuuya. Chuuya hopped in a more complicating way, faster. After that, he finally rest under a very big willow tree, hoping that Dazai has lost him somewhere.

Heaving, Chuuya heard a twig snapped. It must be Dazai again, he thought. This time, he intended to scare Dazai. But as he turned around and climbed the tree, it was not Dazai. A giant spider. Chuuya’s eyes widened as he saw the hungry eyes only inches away from him. He fell to the ground, reaching his bow and arrow.

Realized that it is now a target, the spider crawled along the branches in a complicated way, and each second the crawling got faster and faster. It’s the same way how Chuuya tried to get away from Dazai.

The longer the spider crawled, others joined in and surrounded Chuuya. There were at least ten giant spiders at the moment. At this point, Chuuya was extremely exhausted. The spider gave no time for him to aim. Chuuya then started to aim randomly at the spider, but the arrow always missed, until he ran out of them.

Shit.

In his last hope, Chuuya brought out his two daggers. From tree to tree, he followed the movement of the spiders. For some time, he finally caught up with one spider and slew it. Then to another and another one. The fourth spider, however, along with the other six took the jumpscare strategy. It’s a strategy where one by one, the spiders tries to scare, or even weakens the prey and vanishes at the same time from different directions.

Chuuya was cornered to the big, willow tree. He didn’t have any strength left. Just when a spider almost bit his arm off, a sword lunged through its head. The sword flew around, slaying the spiders in a heartbeat. Chuuya watched the scene, almost amazed.

After all of the spiders had perished, the sword stayed still; floating in the air as if it was waiting for its master. Chuuya heard footsteps coming as he put on a battle stance should this be another enemy. The sword flew towards the source of the sound, and put itself within Dazai’s scabbard tangling on his hips. The young man under the trees with a sword that could fly let out a small grin on his face. It’s that smug bastard again.

Of course, Chuuya asked Dazai how he found him. Dazai didn’t answer, stating that Chuuya shouldn’t have avoid him or the result would be like this as he wiped the blood off of Chuuya’s face, revealing some wounds.

“From now on, you have to learn to work with me… partner?” he said.

“I’d rather be eaten by that giant ass fucking spider than to work with you.”

They argued for an hour while walking back to the gate. In the end, Dazai ridiculed Chuuya of him hopping from tree to tree like a little fairy and maybe kinda praised him for having good stamina for doing it. Chuuya only turned his head away, secretly flustered and felt weird hearing those words.

* * *

That night, Legolas was walking around the kingdom, where in a certain room there happened to be two people arguing.

“Dude, it’s too big! I can’t possibly fucking swallow that!” a voice that happened to be Chuuya’s slipped out of the wall.

Legolas stopped hearing those words, “…”

“It’s for your own good! You’ll feel A LOT better afterwards!” Dazai argued.

Legolas quitely walked towards the wall and stuck his ear to it.

“Ouch! That hurts! Be gentle next time!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault if it hurts! Must you groan like this is your first time?!”

Legolas couldn’t take it anymore. He walked towards the door and kicked it open.

Dazai and Chuuya jolted hearing the sound. They quickly eyed towards the door, and saw the crown prince of Mirkwood with a grim look on his face.

Legolas has just realized his mind had been tricking him.

He saw a human trying to feed an elf some medicinal herbs that rolled into a big lump while rubbing hot towel on his wounded face. Now embarrassed on the inside, Legolas covered his mouth while pulling off a straight face. He quickly walked out the door and said before closing it, “Pardon me for intruding your intimate moment.”

The both of them were now left alone in the room. They thought of the same thing: “ _Intimate? Did he- did he just call us lovers? Motherf-“_

They started to bolt out of the door and chase that damned crown prince. They found him on the hallway, crouching in laughter. Legolas sensed that there was big resentment energy close to him and when he turned his back, he saw the objectives of his laughter with bloodshot eyes, ready to silence him at once. Feeling he’s in danger, Legolas ran away. Of course, Chuuya and Dazai wouldn’t let him go. They chased him around the kingdom, even until in the Halls of Thranduil. Their movements were fast, and all things passing them seemed to be blown by wind.

All the guards and elves around them shook their heads, thinking such childish actions. The pursuit was long, and there’s only one thing that can make them stop. Legolas looked back and saw that those two was still chasing him.

Alas, not two seconds later, his face already touched the floor. It seemed that someone tripped his feet. That ‘someone’ is not just a random elf, it was His Majesty King of Mirkwood, Thranduil Oropherion. Legolas looked up and saw his father staring at him in disbelief.

Legolas stood up and tidied his clothes. Chuuya and Dazai also froze in place. I mean, it’s the king we’re talking about. You’re not gonna chase around like a bunch of kids in his palace. Thranduil didn’t say anything and kept his bleaky face. He then gestured them to come with him. Chuuya and Dazai stared at each other and looked at Thranduil with faces that said: _“Wait, us too?”_ Thranduil nodded and went to a different hall.

The hall Thranduil entered was rather different than the hall of his throne, this one is more… flowery. The name of this hall is Uilosrond, taken from Sindarin Elvish; _Uilos_ which means a small white everlasting flower, also called Simbelmynë or "evermind", and _rond_ which means dome; cavern; hall.

This hall certainly lived up to its name compared to the previous hall that gives off of the essence of dim, vintage woods. Uilosrond is surrounded by white giant tree roots and carvings, with the company of yellow and blue flowers and some magenta to blood red berries. This hall used to be in use for feasts of the king’s family and close friends. But now Thranduil was left with his son, this hall became silent for a long time.

Apparently, Thranduil asked the three of them to come here so they could have dinner together. The main reason must be to explain the Tom and Jerry incident, but the air surrounding them was the most awkward yet. They sat and ate in silence, not even the silver and snow-white merry leaves could cheer them up. After the awkward dinner was over, Thranduil pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his lips, “So, the scene that I was watching, what happened to be the cause?”

The three of them sighed. At first, they were offering each other the explanation. But since Thranduil gave them a terrifying glare, Legolas spoke first: “Well, apparently it’s a misunderstanding.”

“I was healing Chuuya and he overreacted,” Dazai continued.

Chuuya looked at Dazai, scronching, “I didn’t overreact. His healing method was unorthodox, of course I didn’t get used to it!”

“Anyways,” Dazai ignoring Chuuya’s complaint, “Because Chuuya was **overreacting** , it seemed that His Highness Crown Prince Legolas was eavesdropping our conversation."

Thranduil turned his glare to Legolas, “Is that true, Legolas? That you’ve been eavesdropping?”

Legolas hung his head low, “I did, Ada. Because they didn’t pick their words correctly, so I thought they were doing something else.”

*Ada means “Dad” in Sindarin.

Thranduil facepalmed and let out a sigh, “Really, you are thousands years old but you still act like an elfling… You mustn’t do such shameless things, Legolas. Or your reputation of eavesdropping will be brought to the tables of Elrond in Rivendell! Moreover, you have to depart tomorrow.”

“His Royal Highness is going to go tomorrow? Where to?” Dazai asked Chuuya quitely.

“To Rivendell. There had happened to be discords in the east and we lost Gollum a few weeks ago, we’d like to report the matter to Lord Elrond to counsel about it.” Chuuya whispered back.

 _‘East? Ah, it must be that ring-obsessed nitwit again.’_ Dazai thought. As a Maia, of course Dazai had known Sauron, or Mairon (his old name) the lieutenant of the big bad Morgoth. He even used to hang out and work together with Sauron. But as time come and go, Dazai was sicked of Sauron’s disturbing fealty to Morgoth (the first Dark Lord of Middle Earth, represented Lucifer in Tolkien’s works), and they didn’t really have good terms on each other since then.

Afterwards, all of them were dismissed. But before leaving, Thranduil could only tell them to not do anything embarrassing or there’d be consequences. Dazai and Chuuya got back to each of their own rooms.

That night, Chuuya had a bad dream. The dream was like this: It was dark, and he seemed to be alone. He felt pain all over and when he looked down he saw that so many scars and wounds outside and inside of his body. And when he called for help, no one answered, only to hear the sound of clinking.

He was chained, and he couldn’t walk away to find someone. In that dream he saw a vague apparition of a powerful being of might, with grey wings and glowing red halo around his head. The being seemed to be full of grief, hugging Chuuya the soon it saw him. Chuuya tried to move his head to look at the face of the mysterious being or try hugging it back. But he couldn’t turn a finger. Not even a single part of his body could make a move.

By what he felt from the hug, Chuuya could only picked up some information of the being. It certainly has short hair, but not really that short because it covers some part of its neck. The being also seemed to wear bandages around its head and right eye. Chuuya felt tears coming down his face, but he didn’t know why he cried. He also felt tears (perhaps the being’s?) dampened his shoulder and back. Then all of those turned into darkness.

Fast forward, Chuuya felt like he flew around the universe and saw the bright sunlight as he opened his eyes. He blinked a few times, and he found himself laying down a white tree in the meadow. The tree had light blue flowers, and because it seemed to be spring at the moment, all of them bloomed and the petals fluttered in the direction of the wind.

But as he looked at the direction where the petals flew towards, he saw the same being that was hugging him from the last scene. He couldn’t see its face again, and he could only hear its laughter. But as soon as he heard it, the laughter was the birdsong, and every time, as if its sound lifted a veil from his eyes and allowed him to see the world more clearly.

Chuuya smiled for a moment, but the scene before him soon faded. The next scene is him laying in bed. He couldn’t see anything, and couldn’t say anything. Chuuya coughed blood as soon as he tried to speak, but every time he tried to wipe the blood off of his hands, someone always cleaned it off first. But since he couldn’t see nor speak, he could only listen to the person’s rambling. But he couldn’t remember any of the words.

Chuuya woke up in the middle of night, trembled in fear, sweat trailing down his face. “What the heck did I just dream about?” he said. Chuuya felt a little concerned about this dream, it’s way too vague for him so he didn’t understand the meaning behind it. After drinking a few cups of water, Chuuya went back to his bed and continued sleeping.

In the morning, Chuuya woke up at five as usual. Soldiers in Mirkwood have strict timetable. You must wake up at 5 in the morning and sleep at 9 in the evening. Only the high ranking ones are allowed to sleep a bit later because they usually have more work to do than the ones in training or regular soldiers. As the lord commander, Chuuya usually sleeps around 10 or 11.

Chuuya went straight to the bathroom and cleaned himself. Because that day was the resting day (Sunday), no soldier was training. Chuuya put on his casual clothes and had breakfast while cleaning his house. Houses here in Mirkwood are nothing alike to the ones we usually live on. They build their own houses in giant tree roots because the kingdom resides underground, in an extremely enormous cave.

While he was rearranging his wardrobe, he found a bracelet with a golden daffodil. The gold of the flower was pure, and in its core there was a beautiful brown moonstone, as brilliant as the eyes of a certain person that left an impression in Chuuya’s heart. No one knew who put it there, for the house belonged to Chuuya for hundreds of years. But since finders keepers, Chuuya tied the bracelet around his slender wrist. ‘ _Hm, not bad at all._ ’ He thought.

Chuuya put his new folded clothes back into the wardrobe. After that, he didn’t have anything to do, but he seemed like to stroll around the palace garden. When he got there, he heard faint laughter coming from the garden. There he saw Dazai surrounded by pretty elf-maidens. They seemed to be amazed by Dazai’s ‘convincing’ words about his magic ability. Chuuya saw that Dazai also wore the same bracelet as him, only the core of the flower was a glimmering sapphire gemstone, similar to Chuuya’s eyes.

Watching Dazai having a good time with the ladies, Chuuya put his hands behind and secretly took off the bracelet out of disgust and probably a slight aversion. As he continued strolling, Dazai noticed Chuuya and excused himself from the maidens. “Chuuuyaaaaaa!!” he called with annoying tone. Chuuya jolted and tried to hide the hand that held the bracelet unnoticed.

“Ah, bandage-wasting device. Quite the ladies’ man, aren’t you?” Chuuya turned his head towards Dazai.

“Awee, don’t call me that. You’re so harsh, Chuuya. Besides, those maidens admired and were only impressed by my looks and my ability, not what I’d call myself a ladies’ man, though.”

Dazai observed Chuuya for a time with those shining chocolate orbs. He didn’t know why, but Chuuya sort of felt weak in front of those eyes, gripping the bracelet tighter. But Dazai was not a fool, or Chuuya was just bad at hiding things. “What are you holding in that hand of yours?” Dazai inquired.

“Oh, nothing. Just some leaves that I plucked around here.”

“Really? But by the time you arrived, I haven’t seen you touching any of the leaves here.” Dazai said while gently opening Chuuya’s hand. He saw the matching daffodil bracelet and his mouth went ‘oh’. “Well then, don’t we have matching bracelets? Mine looks like yours, but the core is blue.” Dazai then proceeded to tie the bracelet on Chuuya’s wrist. Chuuya couldn’t help but stay silent and blushed.

“There you go. Since we’re going to go on an adventure, ‘partner’.” Dazai pulled a smirk and winked. To avoid continuing the cheesy romantic conversation, Chuuya asked Dazai to accompany him training. While they were walking towards the training ground, Chuuya happened to ask, “Dazai, have you ever dreamt something so absurd, that you thought they really happened?”

Dazai stopped, “No, I haven’t. What did you dream about last night?”

“It’s just… this dream was too vague. It’s like pieces of an unsolved puzzle in my mind. But when I followed the pattern, there’s always this… being that keep appearing in every piece. The dream made it seems like someone that is dear to me.”

Dazai stopped walking for a moment with a concerned face, “Were you okay? You’re not hurt during dreaming, right?”

“I wasn’t hurt anywhere while sleeping, but I think I was gravely wounded in the dream. But don’t worry, though. They don’t really have any connections to reality, do they?”

Dazai sighed while looking afar as he continued walking, “Southerners do not dream about wolves, northerners do not dream about elephants.”

Chuuya was left behind, and upon realizing it, he ran towards Dazai, “Hey, what do you mean by that? I have never heard of that saying before. Did you just made it up?”

“It’s an idiom that I learnt when I travelled to the far east.” Dazai didn’t answer the question.

Chuuya didn’t really mind, so he just said “Huh,” while tilting his head. Dazai however, was now concerned. As they arrived at the training ground, Chuuya grabbed his sword and pointed it at Dazai, “How about one match? Surely you’ve got good moves.”

Dazai didn’t really want to draw his own sword, so he just raised his hands, “I’m not really good at sword fighting. Moreover, I’m not really the kind that’s eager to fight. To put it simply, I’m lazy.”

Chuuya spinned his sword, “Well, that explains how you fly your sword instead of wielding it.”

“Okay, you know what? Nevermind. Let’s have a match right now.” Dazai put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Promise you won’t fly your sword?”

“Promise.”

When they fought, the styles were so different that they almost resembled a raging fire and calm water. Chuuya’s fighting style was fierce and offensive, there were lots of jumping, thrusting, and lunging. Like flowing river, Dazai’s fighting style was tranquil and defensive, although it could be tempestuous sometimes.

Regarding the promise, Dazai put a spell on his own sword and it began to hover and fly around Chuuya. Angered, Chuuya yelled, “You promised!” Before he could say another word, Chuuya fought with the sword while Dazai was watching him.

“On your promise, I didn’t really break it! I only put a spell on it, so it flew by itself!” Dazai shouted at Chuuya that was far enough from him.

Chuuya rolled his eyes, still fighting, “That’s literally the same shit!”

“If you meant it literally, it’s not!”

This time Dazai’s sword flew faster and swifter than before, which annoyed Chuuya a little. He was then forced to retreat closer to Dazai, to his disadvantage. In the end, Chuuya managed to kick Dazai’s sword away and halted before his sword reached Dazai’s neck. As Chuuya sheathed his sword back, Dazai sighed sarcastically, “As expected of a lord commander. I told you, I’m not really good at this.”

Chuuya replied, “No, you’re not. Actually, your fighting style is quite remarkable. Where did you learn it?”

“Well, I had this great teacher who is known in my homeland as the most skillful huntsman.” The great teacher Dazai referred to is Oromë, the huntsman of the Valar (angelic beings equal to seraphims) and the most quick to anger.

Leaving the training ground, they walked into the palace kitchen to grab some food. Not knowing what to talk about, Chuuya asked Dazai about his hometown, how was his life and job going before meeting him in Mirkwood, etc etc. But Dazai only answered little to his inquirements, and filled his story with riddles and confusing idioms.

Chuuya found that his answers are all too vague and felt dissatisfied so he pouted his mouth. Dazai chuckled and said, “Worry not. Like all mysteries in our life, they will come to light someday.”

“Then, do you have any crush or life partner or something?”

Dazai answered without hesitating, “Of course I do!”

Chuuya’s eyes froze a little, “Oh, really? Then, tell me about your said ‘crush’.”

“Well, my life partner is kinda a mess, actually. But that’s what makes me love them very much. They is an honest person, but sometimes they can be very ferocious about it.”

“Wait, they? Using is?”

“I’m not gonna tell you their gender. You’ll find out.”

Chuuya didn’t know why, but he felt his heart ache. “Then, does they love you back?”

“Maybe. We were really on very good terms! But something happened in the past, but I wonder if they still loves me…” Dazai’s tone now became sad. The jealousy in Chuuya’s heart has now turned into empathy. He then patted Dazai’s shoulder in order to comfort him, but it only made the situation more awkward than ever. Chuuya turned his head avoiding Dazai’s gaze while covering his mouth.

Dazai blinked for a few times and let out a small laugh afterwards. Chuuya turned his head over only to see a pure face of sunshine with laughter alike to a birdsong. After they finished their food, Dazai and Chuuya (again) didn’t know what else to do or to say. Dazai asked, “Hey, do you learn the language of flowers?”

Chuuya turned his head, “Hmm? Well, yeah, a bit, why?”

“Considering each of our bracelets has a daffodil, do you know what is the meaning behind it?”

“Wait, let me recall… Oh yes, it symbolizes inspiration, creativity, memory, forgiveness, vitality, and renewal.”

As Chuuya looked into Dazai’s eyes, he could feel the yearn and longing. Why does his eyes look so sad? Who is he looking for? Why does it feel so familiar? All these questions filled Chuuya’s mind, making his head felt heavier than ever. Chuuya put his palm on the forehead, trying to contain all those questions away. He didn’t want to ask Dazai of all those. He was afraid if those questions, will sever their bond. Chuuya couldn’t take it anymore, his legs weakened as he fell to the ground.

Dazai quickly caught him in his arms. “Chuuya, Chuuya! Are you alright? What happened? Listen to my voice, Chuuya!”

Chuuya opened his eyes a little, murmured, “Dazai…” But as soon as he realized that he was in Dazai’s arms, his eyes widened and jumped off. His face became redder and redder, “What the hell?! Why were you holding me earlier?!”

Dazai replied while ruffling his waist, “You almost fainted. If I had not caught you, you would fall into the ground hard.”

“Well, you could have put me on the ground as soon as you caught me!”

“And you would catch a cold if I did.”

Calling off the argument, Chuuya only replied very quietly, “…thank you.”

Dazai’s lips curved to a smile, “Hmm? What was that? I couldn’t hear it well. Could you repeat that, please?”

Bam!! A pebble hit Dazai’s cheek hard. He didn’t know Chuuya’s arm was this strong! As expected of a trained lord commander! His right cheek reddened, forming a bruise and almost bleed.

“I SAID FUCKING THANK YOU, YOU POX-RIDDEN WRETCHED PUNY MORTAL!!!” Chuuya shouted as he ran away, back to his house.

Dazai was left there dumbfounded with a bruised mark on his right cheek. Such a long-ass nickname Chuuya just gave him! Dazai let out a small laugh miserably.

“Really, it’s been a long time since we’ve first met, yet I have already forgotten that you’re still full of energy as ever…” Dazai muttered under his breath while covering his right bruised cheek. His eyes almost teared up, but he didn’t dare to do so. Dazai then walked back towards his lodge.

In Chuuya’s house.

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Chuuya yelled as soon as he entered his house. He threw himself into his bed and buried his red face with a pillow. After all that silence, he sighed and sat up. “Seriously… that guy…”

“When will he ever act decent for one second?!” Chuuya threw himself into the bed again and fell asleep.

That night, Chuuya didn’t dream about anything. In the morning, he woke up with ease. At first he wondered for a second as to why didn’t he dream the continuation of the déjà vu dream he had before. But because there was not any last night, he decided that probably the déjà vu dream had nothing to do with his real life.

Back to the usual day, Chuuya got ready and collected some reports from the night shift guards. Then, he went to the King’s Halls and handed the reports over to Thranduil. As Thranduil was reading the reports, a small thought crossed his mind.

“Tell me, how was your recent days with Dazai? Has he been behaving as a good partner to you?”

“Well, it’s hard to say, my King. All sorts of things happened in those recent days. Good and bad, they all-“ Chuuya tried to answer wisely but was cut off when Thranduil raised his hand.

Lowering his hand, Thranduil uttered with a hint of small laughter, “Please, lord commander. With all due respect, this is only a personal question. You need not speak with full courtesy in this matter. Tell me if you will, with honesty, what does your heart say about him?”

About Chuuya and Thranduil, they’re more like an uncle and his nephew, rather than a boss and his subordinate. When Chuuya was little, his parents died in the Battle of Dagorlad, the Last Alliance of men and elves against the armies of the Dark Lord Sauron of Mordor.

Since his parents are the most trusted captains of Thranduil, he decided to take Chuuya in and raised him along with his son, Legolas. He raised Chuuya as if he’s his own son, and made him the lord commander when he reached the age of adult.

Chuuya answered, “As I have said, I only met Dazai for two days. So it is hard to say if he is a good partner and such,” Chuuya took in a deep breath for a while, “But for those past two days, unexpected things came ashore.” One of Thranduil’s eyebrows was raised.

“And so it came to me that he is wily, and cunning, and brilliant, and oh…”Chuuya covered his mouth.

Pulling a smirk, Thranduil teased, “It almost sounds like you fancy him.”

Chuuya’s face began to sweat. “That is impossible, my liege. TOTALLY impossible. It is better to put the feelings aside. I believe the chemical reaction in our brains better not stop us from the mission. Plus, both of us are men! How do you even-“

Thranduil cut off Chuuya’s complain, “I did not say that the ‘chemical reaction’ you mentioned should get in the way of rational thinking. Love is an inevitable thing, even among the toughest hearts of iron. Also for both of you, forget not, friend of mine, that love knows no bounds.”

Silence filled the enourmous halls. Thranduil then changed the topic of conversation into tomorrow’s mission. Because the mission was supposed to be secretive, only a few soldiers will be chosen to accompany Chuuya and Dazai. The main objective is to gather information and spy on Sauron the Dark Lord’s northern branch, the Kingdom of Angmar that was once ruled by a wraith titled ‘The Witch-King’.

Ever since its fall during the Battle of The Five Armies, some humans would travel and live in there. But not a week ago, news reached Mirkwood that those humans have moved to the southern part of Angmar, the Kingdom of Rhudaur. There had been rumours about Angmar that some have said to see or hear.

Howls, wails, metal clashing, orcs moving around and patroling, killing anyone in sight and those who oppose them. Darkness had fallen over the north once more.

The mission group required 10 companions. The group will be divided into six roles: healer, mage, brute (also called tank in some video games), burglar or assassin (for sneaky-sneak situation), swordsman or the main combatant, and archer or bowman. All members/companions must have combat skills for dire situations.

Thranduil stated that Chuuya must assemble the members by himself, for he trusted him as the lord commander to know every capabilities of his soldiers. For healers, Chuuya picked the infamous duo healers of Mirkwood, Yosano Akiko and Mori Ougai.

Because of his capabilities that Chuuya had seen for the past two days, he thought Dazai would be suited as the mage. For the brutes, he picked Miyazawa Kenji, a youthful elfling with amazing physical strength and endurance with Nakajima Atsushi, another elfling but also a skinchanger. He is able to change his appearance to somewhat an elf and a tiger hybrid.

For the assassins, he picked Akutagawa Gin, a really shy elf and her movement is very swift like the wind. Gin would be paired with Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, a camouflage master with a very subtle heart. For the swordsmen or the main combatants, of course it would be Chuuya, since he was the leader of the companion.

At first Chuuya would invite Suehiro Tecchou, another lord commander for the kingsguards for the position, but he refused because he would like to stay in Mirkwood to protect it should there will be war waged against them. Chuuya didn’t want to force him either because his reason made sense.

Finally, Chuuya picked Kyouka Izumi, a very young elven maiden. But don’t let her appearance fools you. Most of her opponents underestimate her for her petite condition, that’s when they let their guards down. As far as Chuuya had seen from her spider hunting experience, she is very fierce in the battlefield.

For the Archer, Chuuya succeeded to persuade (or more precisely drag) Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, the elder brother of Akutagawa Gin and the most skilled archer that he had ever trained. Although his swiftness and skill with bows and arrows are very good, his physical condition might not be as great as his aim.

After informing and telling them to get ready for tomorrow, Chuuya started to look for Dazai. He had not seen his flirty and cunning ass since he got out of his house. At the time, Dazai was lying on his bed in his lodge, looking at the golden daffodil bracelet. He really admired the beautiful core of the flower, it always reminded him of the person he loved most.

Suddenly Dazai heard a loud knock, “Come in. The door is not locked.”

A ginger-haired elf came in with almost concerned expression that changed into disgust when he saw that Dazai was still in his bed. Before he came in, Dazai had already wore the bracelet back on.

“Ah, Chuuya. Welcome to this humble one’s temporary lodge.” He said with a big smile on his face.

Chuuya didn’t change his expression, “Shut it. This lodge is temporary because the King allowed you to stay here for a while and provide accomodation. And HOW ARE YOU STILL IN BED AT THIS HOUR??”

“At this hour? What time is it?”

“Almost eleven! Now get off your bed and clean yourself!” Chuuya tried to take Dazai’s pillow away.

Dazai grabbed his pillow tightly and didn’t want to let go, “Woah, calm down. Lord Waking Up Early, I’ve already taken a bath. I don’t have anything to do so I just lay down here. I’ll wear a second layer when I go out.” He said while pointing at the thin layer of shirt that he’s wearing.

Chuuya only sighed, he no longer tried to take the pillow away. “So, you do have an idea where are we going to go, right?”

“The King sent me a message last night. We are going to Angmar.” Dazai’s voice had turned to serious tone.

“Yes, he told me this morning. But I mean, have you decided the route? I rarely went to the far north, but since you and the King claimed that you have traveled to every corner of the world, you must have a plan.”

Dazai got up and went to his small desk. He opened the drawer and showed Chuuya a map of the northern part of Middle Earth. Angmar is located at the northern end of the Misty Mountains, with the City of Carn-Dûm.

(Credit for the map goes to: Christopher Tolkien)

“Now, if we wanted to spy on Angmar, there will be some places where we will rest at night, either by a lodging or make a camp. I assume we will go along the forest river to the west, then continue to Greylin. That’s where we will make camp. Our next stop is the southern part of the Kingdom of Langwell.”

Chuuya that barely understood what Dazai had explained, “Wait, what? Why the southern part?”

“The capital is too close to Gundabad. I assume you know that the mountain was the main fortress of the opposition during the Battle of The Five Armies.”

Chuuya only let an ‘ah’. He pointed a line of mountains on the map, “Then, after staying in Langwell, we will have to cross the Misty Mountains as well?” Chuuya closed his eyes for a while, “That’s going to suck so bad.”

As told in The Hobbit, the Misty Mountains are the homes of underground goblins and stone giants. But after the Battle of The Five Armies, (hopefully) the goblins there have reduced as most of the dwarves from the Blue Mountains, Grey Mountains, Erebor, and the Iron Hills came back and inhabitated the area.

Dazai laughed a little, “Yeah, let’s just hope we don’t run into goblins. Stone giants are easier to deal with. They care not for little things that entered their territory. After crossing the Misty Mountains, we might have to cross the feet of Ettenmoors, where we will have camp next. And then, that’s where our real mission will start.”

Chuuya nodded, “So, how long do you think until we’ve reached Angmar?”

“If everything goes well, it might take us about 3 weeks or so.”

Three weeks. Chuuya felt a little unwilling about this. He had never travelled as long as almost a month! The longest journey he had ever taken was only 10 days long. This journey will take twice that long, even if everything goes well!

As usual, Dazai and Chuuya walked around the kingdom again, just like the day before. Dazai suddenly asked, “Hey, did you have another weird dream again last night?”

Chuuya shook his head, “No, I did not. Actually, I had a good sleep last night (finally). And I don’t really think the dream had any connections to reality. What do you think?”

Dazai stared at Chuuya with a little bit of sadness in his eyes, mixed with relief. Chuuya didn’t really understand what’s going on with Dazai. He thought he was spacing out, so he hit the back of his head, “Wake up, Bandages. What are you spacing out for?”

After the hit, it seemed that Dazai was not really spacing out, he only rubbed part of his head that got hit. “Oh, I was not really spacing out. It’s just… feels kinda sad when you thought it was going to be some kind of interesting mystery looking to be solved.”

“Oh…” Chuuya did not feel it was the right time, so they did not discuss it anymore that day. He somehow emit the vibes of “feels bad man”.

That day, the both of them only talked about things to prepare on what to do and what to bring for the mission. Chuuya introduced Dazai to the other 9 companions. Dazai quickly got close with them fast because of his extroverted nature. Then the ten companions quickly dispersed when the night fell. Tomorrow will be the first day of their important mission, so they wanted to take a rest earlier.

Second Arc: The Journey

Alas, what we all had thought was done, it was never done. Shortly after Chuuya fell asleep, he dreamt the continuation of the weird dream on the other day. Poor Chuuya, he ate his words bit by bit whilst dreaming that night.

Chuuya felt like he was in front of a really huge, dark castle with orcs roaming in every corner. That moment felt like he was challenging someone, or perhaps, something. The orcs came to him and tried to kill him but he managed to kill them first easily. For quite a time so many orcs wailed, listened and rambled about him, surrounding Chuuya. Chuuya was waiting for the challenged opponent inattentively.

The ground was shaking, as if it will soon be separated. The rambles and wails of the orcs grew quieter and quieter as the sound of footsteps came from the main gate of the castle. Out of the gate, there came a person clad in black, with bandages around its right eye. It walked with nonchalance, often lazy, but with the aura of arroagance and surety.

From what had Chuuya seen before, the description of the being’s appearance from the previous dream fit well in this ‘person’. Chuuya took it that this must be the being.

(Dear readers the description in here is the short to middle length hair and the bandages around its eye. Its another face appeals don’t get to be seen by Chuuya and it happened in every dream.)

They began to duel. The fight was pretty intense, to the extent the orcs ‘ooh’ed and ‘ahh’ed, cheering while stepping backwards in every corner. Chuuya saw that the sword of the being flew around him, making Chuuya fighting with the sword, not the person. A style that Chuuya was familiar with.

But Chuuya dared not come into conclusion of who was the being, for he couldn’t see the sword’s signature clearly. After a few minutes of fighting, Chuuya’s feet got swept by the being’s while busy paying attention to its sword. The being did not kill him, however. It took him as a prisoner.

After a while, the scene changed again. Chuuya saw that he was hugged by the being, just not in the same manner as the previous dream. This hug was filled with affection, not grief. He didn’t know why, but he quite enjoyed it, staying still in the hug. Then the dream ended.

Chuuya then woke up with ease, unlike the last time he had this kind of dream. He looked outside of his window, the sky was lighter. From the shade of the sky, Chuuya could tell that it was already seven. “I guess it is already morning, huh… I have to got ready, today is the first day of the mission.”

Chuuya quickly got ready and took his bag. Outside of his house, a horse had already waited for him. He put the bag on the horse, and rode outside the area of Mirkwood, just by the side of the palace gate. Outside the gate, Chuuya saw that all of his companions were already there.

“I’m surprised you all were quite early today,” Chuuya commented.

Dazai scoffed while holding the rein of his horse, “We’re more surprised to see the lor commander himself was quite late.”

Chuuya glared at Dazai with a ‘piss off’ look. Dazai looked down on him (literally), pulling a smirk. All of them started to ride along the forest river. Mirkwood is a very big forest, so only going by the river already took a few hours. The forest was very dense, so they rode in line.

In the forest, the winds would rarely pass. It was dark, and the air was fuggy. Their eyes were used to the dimness of the forest. The sun was completely blocked by the leaves and the density of the branches and twigs that were intertwined. There were times when spiders would crawl around them in silence, but got noticed and slain by Gin and Kyouka instead.

The night was the most terrible time in the forest. The darkness was very thick, really very thick. They made camp in a more open land of the forest. Usually fire and camps would invite hundreds of eyes of the creature inside the forest and thousands of big ass dark grey and black horseflies, so Dazai put a spell of concealment and protection around the camp so they stayed safe and cannot be seen.

The journey to the west side of the forest took them a week. And there were nights where Chuuya’s dreams got more and more vivid. Dazai also noticed this and offered Chuuya a help if he had trouble sleeping by sleeping next to him should anything happened while he’s dreaming.

By more and more vivid, I meant it like night by night, all parts of the dream started to connect with each other. Chuuya started having doubts for himself and Dazai. But he quickly brushed it off since it was no time to think something that would lead him astray from the mission.

After Chuuya dreamt the night before leaving the kingdom, he dreamt of what I was going to tell you, the readers, here below.

First night: Chuuya was taken as the prisoner of the being and was brought to the dungeon. He was chained there for a night, and was taken out of it because he kept annoying the orc guards.

They seemed really wanted to finish him there, but did not dare to do so because their lord a.k.a. the being told them to not harm prisoners (whatever the reason). If they tried to do so, their heads will be put on a spike and their bodies will be paraded to show an example for the other orcs.

Chuuya was taken into their lord’s throneroom, because the orcs couldn’t stand him that much. In the throneroom, Chuuya saw that the being was sitting on its throne, resting its chin while reading a piece of paper with a sour look on his face. The orc that was guarding him complained about his annoying behaviour, and it seemed that the being wasn’t in a good mood either.

The being shot a piercing glare to both of them, making the orc guard slowly walked out of the throneroom, leaving only Chuuya and the being there.

Fourth night: Chuuya was in a garden, admiring the beautiful flowers. He then realized that someone came to him. It has the exact same appearance of the being. Apparently it had just arranged and planted some of the trees and flowers in the garden. They chatted for a long time, and laughed at each other’s jokes. The being seemed like it was about to tell him something, but the dream was cut off when Chuuya was about to react to its words.

Seventh night: Chuuya was in the throneroom back again, with the being still staring at him with a sour face. While dreaming about this, he assumed that this dream must be the continuation of first night’s dream because the fourth night clearly showed different atmospheres and situations.

“What did you do that my guard complained privately to me?” The being asked.

Chuuya was startled by the question, and asked with confidence, “Hmph! His treatment to prisoners that ‘must not be harmed’ was really bad! Also I was bored, so what do you think I should be doing with no entertainment in my cell?”

“Be quiet and wait for your death, I guess.”

“Waiting is boring, I’m sure someone like you understand that. So I demanded him to tell me a story, or sing a song.”

Of course, when the orc guard did, most of the prisoners and his fellow guards would laugh uncontrolably. The guard, of course, were furious and diddn’t want to accept Chuuya’s request anymore. Then bored Chuuya, decided to troll on the guard, so he would complain about him to the lord and grant him a meeting with the one in charge.

The being went to read the paper again and said, “And I’m sure it’s part of your plan to grant you a meeting with me, no?”

Chuuya was shocked a little. So this being isn’t as foolish as he thought it would be. For how long they debated and argued in that very room, no one knew. The orc guards didn’t dare to enter the room either.

After getting tired of arguing, the being raised his hand, “Enough talking. If you dare to be so keen on arguing, then we can continue doing this another day. Your life is in my hands, and I am not afraid to take it away. Since you keep bothering the guards, you will be a prisoner in my throneroom instead.”

(And that’s the end of the dreams he had for the past seven days.)

Every time Chuuya told Dazai about the dreams he kept dreaming, he saw a mix of fear, grief, and hope in Dazai’s eyes. He then started to suspect Dazai more. Chuuya felt that it’s as if Dazai was waiting for Chuuya to connect all parts of the weird dream, but was afraid of the results when the truth of the dream unfolded.

On the seventh day, they finally reached the west side of the forest. Then from there, they rode to Greylin for 3 days. Greylin was not really a big city that was known to all corners of the world like Hobbiton or Dale, so there were only a few small villages there, a bit similar to Bree.

In Greylin, they stayed in an inn called ‘The Smiling Swan’. It was an average inn, with only a few people stayed there because rarely would anyone visit Greylin. The inn was owned by a cheerful dwarf, unlike its kin, named Rasva. Most of the people that lived in Greylin often looked at the ten companions with awe, for they either rarely saw elves or thought that the elves were only in fairy tales.

Rasva liked to joke about Chuuya’s height, how he, as the leader, was the only one that had a unique stature. “You look quite different from your friends, laddie. Is one of your parents a halfling?” Dazai also liked to join in by replying, “If that truly happened, that would made him a threequarterling then.”

They rested in The Smiling Swan for about 2 days to get informations and refill their bags. While staying in Greylin, Chuuya only dreamt once on the night before they left Greylin. He dreamt that he was sitting on a bench in a garden. The garden was the same garden he dreamt on the fourth night since they left Mirkwood.

He assumed that this dream must be the continuation of that dream, not the dreams from the first and seventh day. On the fourth night’s dream, he saw that the garden was full of flowers. But now, the garden was just a barren land. The grass grew no more, and all the trees and flowers wilted.

Chuuya found himself staring blankly into the red sky. There was no one beside him, not even the being. And Chuuya felt a very strong yearning in his heart, longing to hear the laugh and the chatting. And the dream ended.

Then, they continued the journey to kingdom of Langwell. The journey from Greylin to the southern part of Langwell took them 2 days. So it has been 2 weeks since they left Mirkwood. Unlike in Greylin, the Kingdom of Langwell was surprisingly more bustling. Even though it was located southern of the evil fortress Gundabad, it seemed that the people didn’t really give a fuck and kept on living.

What a nation!

All 10 companions were thinking of the same thing and just paying respect to Langwell for its indifference. Still, even though the people didn’t mind living in the centre of the capital, the ten companions still preferred to stay in the southern part because you know, just in case.

They stayed in Langwell for 3 days, a day longer because even the southern part was livelier and they wanted to replace all the supplies of lower quality. In Langwell, Chuuya dreamt twice. The second day and the last day in Langwell.

The dream on the second day was like this:

He was walking by the river that was not far from the garden. His heart hurt, so he couldn’t think clearly at the time. When he looked at his hands and then his body, it was so pale that he thought he was going to be a statue soon. He realized he was fading. He knew he’s going to die soon.

*Elves (literally) fade when they faced something so hurtful, that they had a mental breakdown, and it just stayed in their hearts. They may be graceful and swift, but they are actually very fragile.

But before he could think about it, his neck hairs stand up. Shortly after, his surroundings became pitch black. He felt as if his life is ending, his time is up. And then he woke up, breathing heavily. He thought he was going to die.

The dream on the third/last day was like this:

Chuuya was still a prisoner in the throneroom. But at that time, he could also go anywhere he want. He was wondering if he’s still considered as a prisoner or not.

“Of course you are.”

A tall being with bandages that was most familiar to Chuuya replied with a playful tone, sitting on his throne. “You are my prisoner, not the guards’. I have exceptions,” It said.

“Then, I want to go outside.”

“Go outside then, I’ll wait.”

“What if I am far away from you and most likely to vanish from this world?”

“Then, I shall come to you and bring you back.”

“Even from something stronger than you?”

“A prisoner is a warden’s life. If it is lost or vanquished, that will scar the warden for most of its life.”

Chuuya was kinda surprised and hesitated a little bit. He wanted to annoy the being, but instead he received a reply that made him felt sorry for making him wait. Every time Chuuya went outside, no one knew if it was just his basic instincts to come back or something else. And every time he came back, the being always had the best mood. But this time he went outside anyway.

He just got out of the enormous gate of the dark castle when something silenced him and took him away.

The scene changed to the moment when he has felt the most painful wounds. He was tortured endlessly, in chains. The pain was too severe to endure, not to mention no one saved him and that only increased the agony. Not even his warden, the mysterious being that kept him as its own prisoner.

He presumed he wasn’t really that important to be kept alive after all.

“Wake up, Chuuya!”

Chuuya woke up with a shocked expression. He blinked a few times before focusing on the bandage-wasting device in front of him. Dazai’s face was sweating so much, “You were grunting in your sleep. What happened inside the dream this time?”

“…I died.”

Dazai’s eyes widened as he tried to touch Chuuya’s forehead, “Chuuya, are you… sure? You dreamt about that two days ago, remember? What exactly is going on with you?”

Chuuya slapped his hand from touching his forehead. He never liked being worried by others. “I’m fine! It’s just… the dreams I’ve had for these past weeks have been disturbing me from the mission. No need to worry about me. Thank you for the concern,”

After staying in Langwell, the ten companions journeyed west to the Misty Mountains. They didn’t bring the horses, because the roads in the Misty Mountains were so narrow, not even horses could fit. So they sold the horses to the inn owner and went by foot. The journey itself took them about 11 hours. Then they rest for a while on the feet of the mountains.

Before crossing the mountains, all of them hoped they didn’t get caught or confronted some goblins. Even if there is someone they came across, it will be better to pass a dwarf despite the conflict that dissociates both races.

When crossing the mountains, what they had expected didn’t happen at all. There were no goblins, and no dwarves. There were no stone giants either. What they confronted was the mountains themselves. There were big storms and blizzard, which made the journey more difficult than ever.

But since they were a team of elves, they could cross faster. This was because the elves had light feet. They could walk in the snow without getting buried like a normal human would, without leaving any footsteps too.

When they got to the other side of the mountains, the sun had already showed its face in the east. It’s already morning again. Then they rested again on the mountains’ feet before going to the feets of Ettenmoors. Day by day, all of them grew more and more wary as they were nearer and nearer to Angmar.

Now they rarely made camp or even lighted a campfire either so they wouldn’t be noticed should there be orcs patrolling over Ettenmoors.

There were a lot of small rivers in Ettenmoors. The water was neither muddy nor clear, but they sensed an unknown magic ran deep in those waters. On one afternoon, they were resting beside the river. At the time, it was Atsushi’s turn to watch.

Atsushi soon came to realize that they’re also being watched. But his tiger sense allowed him to notice that something was lurking weirdly in the water. He then abandoned his post and proceeded to walked towards the water. He kept in mind that Chuuya warned not to fall into the water’s bewitchment, so he didn’t crouched down and looked on the water.

A really big splash/explosion from the water scared the shit out of Atsushi. And from the waters, a gigantic creature rose while staring at Atsushi. The creature represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body with twenty one long tentacles, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.

Luckily, Atsushi already stayed far away from the waters when he saw the explosion. He took his longsword, and slashed the creature numerous times. The creature shrieked of the pain, but the wound quickly healed. Upon realizing that his company was in grave danger, he ran back to the camp.

Chuuya was sitting on a rock, wiping his sword. Dazai was in his tent, probably taking a nap. Gin and Yosano was preparing food, while the others were either chatting, repairing their weapons, or checking the supplies. All of them were shocked seeing Atsushi running to them with a horrified expression and longsword covered in blood in his hands.

“Everyone! We need to leave! I don’t know what is out there, but surely an unkillable gigantic octopus should do!”

Of course, all of them was not prepared for the situation. They quickly packed everything that was necessary, leaving the tents and cooking tools. But the creature ran fast, and they were forced to retreat. Everyone was fighting unprepared, even there was one time when Yosano would throw a cooking knife to the creature, which she thought that would be effective. Nay, it was in vain.

As both the leader and the main combatant, Chuuya fought the fiercest. Dazai was not beside him, he was busy channeling his magic to the creature from a long range. Chuuya was so tired. He was really, very tired. He’s tired of the dreams, of this godforsaken mission, and of course, the main destination.

Chuuya was caught off guard, and the creature took him with one of its tentacles. Chuuya was extremely shocked of this and quickly tried to stab and cut off the tentacles, but to no avail, the wounds quickly healed.

“Chuuya! Hang in there!” Dazai shouted while shooting light beams to the creature, but those annoying tentacles kept protecting it!

The other companions fought fiercer than ever before. Their leader was in danger, so how could they not fear that he was going to die? The creature didn’t really mind their attack, and it ran fast back into the water. Before drowning with the creature, all Chuuya could mutter was the name of the one that he wished to save him the most, “Dazai…”

Chuuya was in the water for a long time, it seemed that the creature intended to eat him in the deepest part of the river. With no one came for him, Chuuya could only close his eyes. Before the creature opened its jaw to devour Chuuya, something hit it hard that it turned into bits of dust before fading in the water.

Almost losing his breath and opening his eyes a little, he saw Dazai swimming to him and holding him in his arms, before brushing his lips over Chuuya’s. Chuuya widened his eyes, no one has ever kissed him before. First, no one would, and second, no one dared to.

Feeling energy coming up his body, Chuuya had a vision regarding of his dreams. He felt this pair of lips were very familiar. His mind traveled back to his dreams, recounting all what he had dreamt with one addition. A face was revealed straight away.

What he thought the voice and the face of the being that imprisoned him was mysterious and deep, he was wrong. The being had brown eyes, similar to the shade of the moonstone core of Chuuya’s daffodil bracelet. It is also revealed to Chuuya that the being often wore the matching bracelet as him, but with sapphire as its core.

It was Dazai. It was that bandaged motherfucker all along. He remembered that those dreams were his past lives.

He finally remembered who he held dear the most in his heart all along. He found Dazai.

Chuuya was appalled to witness this, and he fainted from the shock. Dazai then brought him back from the waters. After the incident, the ten companions made a campfire to dry the clothes.

Dazai looked at Chuuya’s pristine face while wiping the waters with a towel. He stared with the most concerned look he ever put on his face. He knew that everything would turn out like this. Every night he tried to get rid of the dreams of the past that kept haunting both of them.

He felt that he shouldn’t have met Chuuya at all. That way, Chuuya wouldn’t have to go through this, and he could live a happy life. He sighed a little.

Chuuya was woken by his sigh, and grunted when he tried to sit. Dazai quickly helped Chuuya, “Chuuya. Take a rest. You need to replenish your energy.”

Chuuya didn’t really care about Dazai’s words of concern, “Shut it. I’m fine. My energy came back when you… when you…” He couldn’t seem to say the word ‘kiss’ at the time. Dazai went back to his playful attitude, “What, when I kissed you?”

“Ugh… yes! How could you…” Chuuya covered his red face with both of his hands. He was so embarrassed because in this life, he had never being kissed or kissed someone. Yet it was the one he deared the most, of course joy and embarrasment stirred in his heart. Still, he was grateful for being saved.

“Thank you.”

“Eh?” Dazai blinked a few times.

“I said thank you. For saving me.” Chuuya repeated. Now it’s Dazai’s turn to blush. A light shade of red was seen on his cheeks, “N-no sweat,”

“Say, Dazai…”

“Hmm?”

“So what I’ve dreamt all along really happened?”

“It did.”

“And the one I saw on my dreams was you?”

“It was me indeed.”

Chuuya’s face expression changed. He finally knew what was exactly going on. He was a reincarnation, and the dreams were just a reminiscence of his past lives. But he wasn’t sad if he was a reincarnation. It was normal for elves to reincarnate, for their souls were bound to this world.

He was depressed because when he died twice, Dazai wasn’t there for him. In his past lives, Dazai would always come to him whenever he’s in danger and even close to death. Dazai would always watch him, so that whenever Chuuya go, he would always be unharmed. And Chuuya returned his love by staying beside him and taking care of him and would do anything for him.

But not when both stories ended.

“Why weren’t you there when I was gone?” Chuuya asked Dazai.

Dazai was startled by this question, he wore a grieving expression on his face, his body got colder, “I…”

“Didn’t you say that you will always come to me?”

Dazai froze in silence, he lowered his head, unable to speak a word.

Chuuya was holding tears in his eyes. His heart held so much pain and didn’t dare to do the same to the other person.

Dazai always came late, and he always blamed himself and waited for thousands of years for Chuuya to reincarnate. He was unable to save him because of something that got in the way of their bond. He always grieved for Chuuya, and always tried to make everything better. But this ‘something’ always drove him apart from Chuuya.

“Fine.”

Dazai turned to look Chuuya. He saw what he thought will be anger, turned out to be a face with tears streaming down the cheeks, with a joyful smile.

Dazai thought it was going to be a sarcastic smile, “What… is fine?”

“Everything. Well, not really. But this moment isn’t so bad. I am still the same person I was for the past two lives, I think. And in those two lives, I’ve always searched for you, the person who always makes me smile, argue, and worry tirelessly.”

Dazai’s eyes widened, he never thought that Chuuya would greet him back this way. He had prepared should Chuuya leave him and never talk to him again. But if Chuuya deemed it to be all right, then everything must be also fine.

“But when I found you in those two lives, in the end… I am lost, we lost each other.” Chuuya got more and more teary-eyed. Dazai quickly grabbed Chuuya’s hand and hugged him tightly. “Hush, don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine this time, I hope. I promise, if by my life I can protect you, I will.” After hugging him, Dazai showed his arm along with Chuuya’s. The golden daffodil bracelets were tied tightly at their braces.

“You see these bracelets. They’re quite beautiful, aren’t they? And in the language of flowers, do you know what these flowers mean?” Dazai deeply looked at Chuuya’s eyes.

Chuuya shook his head. He never really cared about flower meanings and symbols and such, for he rarely took a liking to them.

Dazai continued, “Well, daffodil symbolizes renewal, vitality, and hope. In the East, they believed that daffodils are signs of good fortune and joyousness, in this case we hope that we won’t lose each other, and live happily, just the two of us.”

Chuuya curved his lips, forming a smile. After reuniting, they continued the journey, for the mission and their story too, had yet to end.

Third arc: Angmar

Finally they reached Angmar. It definitely wasn’t a nice place, and the cold air seeped into their bones. Most of them wore double coats to endure the wind. They dared not make a fire, because if they did so, they would get caught. For now, Dazai could only use heating magic to keep all of the companions warm, though it was only temporary.

Their main objective in Angmar was to gather information or to spy it, to be exact. They would either watching from afar, or have to infiltrate by disguising as one of the corrupted humans or orcs.

That’s why, the company was split into two divisions. One would disguise themselves, while the other one would watch the other and the opposition. Should there be something happened to the infiltrating division, they would quickly seek for help to another lands of free men by sending a message.

The infiltrating division included Chuuya, Tanizaki, Mori, and Gin. Even though Gin’s a woman, we all knew that at first most of the companions thought that she’s a man. Actually Dazai wanted to go with Chuuya, the companions disagreed because only with his magic could they send messages to other free lands faster.

In the end, all of them used his magic to disguise themselves which they hoped it would last long. Then, the infiltrating division began to walk towards the giant iron gate of Angmar. Don’t really know how, but they succeeded to make their way in.

From afar, Dazai could only watch Chuuya. Just a moment ago, they were reunited. Just a moment ago, he thought that they could live together, just the two of them. He could only pray for his safety. But then, no matter the place and time, curses would always lurk in the shadows, ready to gobble the person which it follows.

After a few weeks, all was well. The infiltrating division worked well with the disguise, and so was their mission. The other division still kept on their watch from afar, ready anytime to send any signals. But it’s not life if it doesn’t have trouble, eh? So let’s stir the situation a bit.

For the first time in forever, Chuuya was summoned by the lord of the fortress, the Witch-King of Angmar. “Oi, fuckface! The boss called ya!” One of the orcs called him. For some reasons, Chuuya’s code name here was ‘fuckface’, while Tanizaki was ‘dipshit’, Mori was ‘psycho’, and Gin was ‘Shady Mcshader’. Maybe I’ll explain about this later…

Anyway, Chuuya was summoned, and he thought that this was a very good oportunity and also a mischance. The throneroom of The Witch-King was super high, wayyyy above the hole in which Chuuya were standing at the moment. At first Chuuya would rather not go there, but since it’s an order and he’s in disguise, Chuuya decided to go anyway. But first, he told Tanizaki, Mori, and Gin before going so they could prepare for anything.

Arriving in front of the throneroom, Chuuya felt very exhausted and breathed first before entering. Inside the throneroom, it was unlike Thranduil’s or Dazai’s old throne. The throne itself was inside of a barrier covered in veils.

“M’lord?” Chuuya called out to whomever was sitting on the throne.

“Pull the veils off.” A soothing voice came out of the veils. Chuuya was suspicious at first, but he walked towards the veils and tried to pull them off one by one. There were really a lot of veils, and Chuuya had a trouble pulling them off. Unaware, something hit the back of his head, creating a loud thud. Chuuya fell into a deep sleep afterwards.

* * *

Chuuya opened his eyes. He didn’t know where was he, nor what time was it. When he woke up completely, he couldn’t feel his right arm. He tried to move it, but failed miserably. Chuuya looked at his body, he was back to his elven body, not the orc disguise and in chain. Again.

‘Again???’ he thought. ‘I’m still dreaming? But I’ve got my past lives’ memories back!!”

“Unless,” the same soothing voice broke the silence, “It is not a dream.”

Chuuya averted his view to the source of the voice. It was someone, or something, with a terrible and creepy aura. His hair was black, reaching his shoulders. Chuuya never liked his eyes, they were dazzling but filled with the souls of the innocents.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, you’ve forgotten already? Didn’t you say your past lives’ memories just came back? The first time we met was just like this, don’t you remember?” He pulled a dark grin.

Chuuya finally remembered. His first life’s end was in this condition too, and the man in front of him was the cause.

Chuuya hissed, “Sauron.”

Sauron chuckled, “You remembered, at last. I am Sauron, the Admirable, the Abominable, and the Terrible. In another world I go by the name Fyodor Dostoyevsky.”

Chuuya tried to punch Sauron, but was restrained by the chains, “Who the fuck cares about your other names? You took me away from him. You killed me.”

“Oh, hahaha. Don’t blame me for that. Blame your lover for being a traitor-“

BAM!

The door of the dungeon flew towards Sauron, but he quickly dodged it. Chuuya looked at the one kicking the door. Blue robe and brown hair, with a golden bracelet on one of the braces.

“Dazai!” Chuuya quickly called out.

Dazai ran towards him, “Chuuya!”

“Please, save your affections for later,” Sauron said with a disgusted expression. “Traitor.”

Dazai gazed at Sauron. He was never in good terms with him. Not even when he became the dark lord of the western branch of Morgoth’s fortresses. Especially when he left his castle in order to find the one he loved the most.

“Well, technically I’m not. Because I was never in good terms with the Valar either.” Dazai pulled a sarcastic smile, mocking Sauron.

“Do you think you could run away?” Sauron pulled out a long scimitar, which emit a lot of black smoke.

Dazai unchained Chuuya, and helped him stand. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

A cry was heard from the outside. Sauron turned his head and looked into the front orc lairs behind the gate. Bodies scattered on the ground. Blood was spilled everywhere. Cold sweat pured down off his face. There had been an attack, and his vanguard orcs were all dead. What the fuck is happening?

It turned out that the companions managed to send a message far faster than they imagined. Luckily, a group of Dúnedain rangers were travelling there. They received the message and quickly helped the companions struck the gate open and slaughtered all the orcs guarding it.

“Impossible.” Sauron muttered under his breath.

“Everything became possible if you faced against me. Don’t you remember? I was a dark lord too. I know how it works.” Dazai said with a confident tone.

Sauron gritted his teeth. He then attacked the both of them with his scimitar, but was hauled by Dazai’s flying sword. But he failed, and he didn’t like it. He could still run away, back to Mordor, the Land of Shadows. He turned himself into a gulf of smoke and disapparated. But before disappearing into thin air, some of the smoke seeped into Chuuya’s skin, making it decayed and turned into dust, spreading through his whole body.

Chuuya was heartbroken, “Dazai, I…” It seemed he’s going to be lost, again, for the third time.

Dazai didn’t say anything and looked Chuuya deeply in the eyes. He then pulled Chuuya’s collar and kissed him passionately. Chuuya kissed back, preparing for farewell. But it wasn’t like what he thought it was. His decaying and dusted body came back to normal.

Chuuya was shocked, and delighted to the core. “I’m back! My body is back!”

Dazai gazed at Chuuya happily with a hint of sadness. “…Dazai?” Chuuya called him out.

“I am very happy… that you are happy.” Dazai’s body gradually turned into flower petals into stardust.

Chuuya didn’t know about this. He quickly hugged him, “Dazai! You bastard! Undo the curse! Please, don’t leave me!”

Dazai caressed Chuuya’s hair and kissed it, “I will never leave you, Chuuya. I’ll be always watching you,”

Dazai let out his last breath as he disintegrated completely, “Please, wait for me… on the other side.”

Chuuya could only hug himself, for Dazai wasn’t there anymore.

“Dazai!” he cried. “Where are you going? Dazai!” But he was gone.

The remaining petals turned into little lights, brushing Chuuya’s cheek before passing glimmering on into the night.

Dreamlike it was, and yet no dream, for there was no waking.

In the end, the companions managed to get Chuuya. More orcs came from another regions, so they hurriedly returned to Mirkwood. In Mirkwood, Chuuya was back in his old position, only to give it to Tecchou.

After all that happened in Angmar, Chuuya didn’t have any strength or will to be the lord commander. Thranduil pitied him because of this, and gave him a retirement cottage in Lothlórien, a golden forest in a protected land. Chuuya lived for the rest of his life there.

One day, he found out that his heart and mind was weary, he lay on his garden bench and faded into thin air as his soul travelled beyond the Void.

***Some thousands of years later***

Yokohama, Japan.

“Hahaha! That was good!” He kicked it. ”Child? A member of the mafia?! ” said the boy with ginger hair.

He was a young man. A young man in a dark green rider suit, who had acted as a spear thrown from the darkness. He seemed to be the same age as the one he just kicked, a brunet.

Chuuya felt as if he had seen those brown eyes before. But he quickly brushed that thought away.

Hiera saga continues.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to ask in the comments if there's anything confusing!


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